On 16 April 2006,
BWMA's patrons and honorary members wrote an open letter to the Prime Minister,
Tony Blair, MP. The Prime Minister's office replied on 4 May.

Rt Hon Tony Blair, MP10 Downing Street
London SW1A 2AA

16 April
2006

COMPULSORY METRICATION - THE 2010
DEADLINE

Dear Prime Minister As Patrons and Honorary Members of the British
Weights and Measures Association, we were very pleased to hear of the emphatic
assurances given by the Secretary of State for Transport, Alistair Darling,
during BBC's 'Question Time' on 23 February, that there is no intention to
replace miles by kilometres or mph by km/h on road signs; and even happier to
read the statement by Gunter Verheugen, European Commissioner for Enterprise
and Industry, that "I am not pressuring the UK to go metric. As long as I am in
office we will not touch the issue. Full stop. I personally have a lot of
sympathy for the pint and the mile in the UK. Really, what is the problem?"
We were also impressed, though not surprised, to learn the results of
recent opinion polls by the media. We understand that 'Good Morning' (ITV)
reported that 97% of viewers opposed metric conversion, ITV Teletext 96%
against, while Sky TV simply announced "overwhelming" opposition. The AOL News
website poll, that ran 22-24 February, attracted 30,000 votes (a definitive
sample!) of whom 82.5% preferred to keep the mile. Likewise, the BBCi website's
'Have Your Say' poll (22-26 February) attracted 2,490 'recommendations', of
which 85.9% favoured pro-mile comments. Furthermore, consumer surveys by
professional market researchers have invariably produced similar results. The
will of the people is surely conclusive on this whole issue.
Accordingly, we trust that, while safeguarding the pint and the mile,
you will also ensure a future for the pound and ounce. The EU may, as it has
done since 1995, prohibit use of customary units of weight except as
'supplementary indications' - i.e. alongside but subordinate to the primary
metric marking - yet even that inferior use, solely to provide additional
information for the customer's benefit, is to be abolished from 1 January 2010.
So it is not enough that all goods must be weighed and priced in
metric measures; in less than 4 years from now it will be a criminal offence
even to mention imperial measures! This is repression purely for its own sake.
It is no more than a malicious attack on our cultural heritage as well as on
our democracy. Not only do the vast majority of the people not
want a metric monopoly, a large proportion do not even understand metric units
and - if that proposed regulation is enforced - will be deprived of the
necessary consumer protection afforded by display of imperial equivalents. Will
you therefore please undertake to secure a permanent derogation for use of
supplementary indications? Yours faithfullyTREVOR BAILEY
CHRISTOPHER BOOKER JILLY COOPER ROY FAIERS
SIR
RANULPH FIENNES SANDY GALL CANDIDA LYCETT GREEN JOOLS HOLLAND
Prof.
RICHARD HOLMES Vice Admiral SIR LOUIS LE BAILLY
Dr JAMES
LE FANU CHRISTOPHER MARTIN-JENKINS LORD MONSON SIR PATRICK MOORE
WILLIAM
POOLE SIR
TIM RICE ALEXANDER McCALL SMITH ANDREW ROBERTS QUINLAN TERRY
SIR
ROWLAND WHITEHEAD Bt ANTONY WORRALL THOMPSON